John Moore

Integrators that rode the dot-com bandwagon are now eyeing another venture-capital-fueled vehicle: biotechnology companies. Indeed, a number of service firms view biotech as a target of opportunity. IBM Global Services, for example, earlier this month launched a life sciences practice, emboldened by a Frost & Sullivan study pegging the biotech market for IT products and […]

The clock is ticking for MarchFirst. The financially troubled Internet consultancy faces plenty of challenges ahead, as it makes a full-court press for a new CEO and seeks additional funding to pay off a loan to stay afloat. The challenges grow with each passing second. Investors have turned their backs as MarchFirsts stock has slid […]

The online-privacy game has many rules, but few ways to keep score. Fiderus Corp., a privacy consulting firm based in Cary, N.C., seeks to address that issue. The company recently unveiled its Privacy Assessment Tool, which shows how well—or how poorly—organizations are doing in the privacy department. From business strategy to information technology, the tool […]

Beyond Boxes Distributors are pushing into services to build businesses that go beyond boxes. That strategy takes a range of forms, logistics services and data mining among them. But at Comstor, the focus is on professional services. This Cisco distributor and division of Westcon Group offers staging, configuration, consulting, design and installation. Comstors objective is […]

MarchFirsts path to financial stability is getting steeper. The Internet services firm has until this week to pay off a bank loan of at least $53 million and may need $250 million beyond that sum to recapitalize its business, according to a source familiar with the situation MarchFirst, which has been battling to rein in […]

Its been a quiet but very busy 12 months for Avanade. The joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft, which aims to drive Windows 2000 technology into enterprise accounts, turns one year old next week. And while the company hasnt been particularly vocal about its work, theres been plenty of activity nonetheless. Avanade recently passed the […]

All politics are local, so the saying goes. IBM contends that notion holds true for partnering, as well. The company is in the process of driving its partnering campaign down to the local level, where sales occur and customers are served. Spearheading that effort are “partner managers” that have been installed in about 300 IBM […]

The regulatory clock is ticking for health-care providers and their technology partners. Late last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published new standards intended to protect the confidentiality of “individually identifiable” health-care information. The privacy rules say how patient information can be used and disclosed within a health-care organization, and dictate how […]

IBMs partnering tent just got a bit bigger. The company this week at PartnerWorld is unveiling a Consultants and Integrators program, which brings together high-end consultants, systems integrators, Web integrators, and emerging service types such as wireless integrators. The company had previously dealt with traditional integrators and Web integrators in separate organizations. “We are choosing […]

Gizmo.Com was launched with the goal of helping customers dispose of excess equipment. But the company itself has ended up on the dot-com scrap heap. Gizmo.com, based in Rochester, N.Y., was conceived as an asset management specialist focusing on “e-disposition.” The startup was to help customers eliminate surplus IT gear through its B2B exchange site. […]